Charles N'Zogbia
Charles N'Zogbia at Newcastle United (2007)
Charles N'Zogbia ( born May 28, 1986 in Harfleur, France ) is a French football player. The son of Congolese parents plays since summer 2011 in the English Premier League for Aston Villa. A graduate of the football academy of AC Le Havre usually comes on the left outside midfield position for use, but occasionally plays on the central attacking midfield position or as a left-back.
Sports career
Club career
Born in Normandy in the French department of Seine- Maritime Charles N'Zogbia grew up in Paris - near the Stade de France - on and later joined the youth department of the AC Le Havre. At the age of 17, he was discovered there by Charlie Woods, former chief scout of Newcastle United, and was given the opportunity for a trial. After about a month of training together he had convinced the sports management and was finally obliged. To the transfer itself, however, has developed a dispute between clubs from Le Havre and Newcastle, when he saw him, the French club linked to a training contract and Newcastle insisted on the free choice N'Zogbias club. Although the world football governing body FIFA supported the claims of Newcastle United, is a long-running controversy developed in conjunction with the threat of a legal dispute at the International Court of Sport, ultimately with a compensation payment of 250,000 pounds to the AC Le Havre came to an end. With the official signing of the contract on 2 September 2004 N'Zogbia was the last commitment of the then coach Sir Bobby Robson.
In Newcastle N'Zogbia immediately became a fixture in the club and developed into one of the crowd favorites - he received in the course nicknamed "Retired " and their own chant " Zog on the Tyne ", which refers to a song by the local band Lindisfarne refers to the year 1971. His debut took place on 11 September 2004, which ended with a 3-0 win against Blackburn Rovers. In the season 2005/ 06 he finally became a regular player and completed a total of 41 games. His first goal he scored 10 September 2005 in a free kick in a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham and could make a total of six goals in the season his scoring prowess to the test - including a goal for a remarkable single-handedly been the 4 :1- victory against local rivals Sunderland on 17 April 2006. 's internal team ranking, he was the fourth best scorer in the 2005/06 season and also prepared seven more hits before. While this represents the interest of larger clubs was awakened, N'Zogbia extended at the end of the season his contract with Newcastle United for another three years.
During the 2006/07 season, however, N'Zogbia found more frequently on the substitutes' bench again, as the then manager Glenn Roeder on the left wing position, the Irish national player Damien Duff preferred. On 13 December 2006, he also retired in the 0-1 defeat against Chelsea an injury from which he only returned again towards the end of February 2007. For the last season game on May 13, 2007 against FC Watford N'Zogbia has been removed from the squad, as he had previously refused to sit as a reserve player on the bench.
Despite the existence of transfer rumors in the summer of 2007 N'Zogbia was also in the following years at Newcastle United, the 2007/08 season was called against Bolton Wanderers in the starting lineup by manager Sam Allardyce for the first game and scored in a 3-1 win the first match. On September 4, 2007, he also signed a new five-year contract until 2012.
This contract, however, he did not fulfill. On 2 February 2009 it was announced that N'Zogbia changes in exchange with Ryan Taylor to Wigan Athletic.
One year before the conclusion of the contract, he moved in July 2011 to Premier League rivals Aston Villa, where he has signed a five year contract.
International career
N'Zogbia completed two games for the French U-16 selection in 2002 and was first appointed in the summer of 2006 in the 24 -man squad of the French U-21 national team for the upcoming European Championships in Portugal. Due to continuous upsets between Newcastle, Le Havre and the French Football Federation, however, the sporty direction of the French youth team ultimately decided not to him. After a good start to the 2007/ 08 season but was then appointed in September 2007 in the U- 21 team. and celebrated there on 7 September in a 1-0 win against Wales its debut.
In the friendly against Norway (1:2), he completed 11 August 2010 his first international match for the French national team before he was substituted after the 45 minutes.